1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to presentation of information on a display device, and in particular but not exclusively, relates to presentation of an interactive television “ticker” for shopping.
2. Description of the Related Art
An important business element in the production and distribution of television programming is revenue received from manufacturers and service providers who pay to advertise their products. The ubiquitous television commercial is the manifestation of this enterprise. The survival of a television program is heavily dependent on the advertising revenue that can be realized from the television program. Advertisers in turn rely on the ability of the television program to draw viewers who then become potential purchasers of the advertised products.
Television and interactive technologies are beginning to converge. In a typical scenario, a television commercial can be provided with a “trigger” that renders an icon on television display screen, signaling to the viewers that there is a potential e-commerce opportunity. Once this icon is seen, the viewer can press a “BUY” button or other button on a remote control to initiate an e-commerce transaction.
Viewers can then obtain information about goods and services that are advertised in the commercial by, for example, connecting to the Internet (via the BUY button and a set top box) while viewing the commercial and ordering the advertised products. A user interface for this e-commerce transaction can comprise a hypertext markup language (HTML) web page or pop-up window that is rendered on the display screen as an overlay over the current television program or in full screen. Picture-in-picture (PIP) features are also available, where the e-commerce window is displayed concurrently with the television program image (or vice versa).
Unfortunately, not all commercials or other television programming are accompanied by e-commerce or informational opportunities. The content provider, merchant, advertiser, or broadcaster, for instance, may have chosen not to provide (or did not have the capability to provide) an interactive e-commerce experience along with the particular piece of television programming. Because of this, there is typically no icon that is rendered on the television display screen to indicate availability of an e-commerce opportunity under such circumstances. Thus, when the viewer presses the BUY button on the remote control, the set top box will generally ignore the resulting signal or command that is sent from the remote control and will not render anything on the display screen. Viewer frustration is likely to result as the viewer continues to press the BUY button and wonder why nothing is being displayed to allow him to make a purchase.
This situation is wasteful of a potential revenue opportunity, since the viewer has indicated an interest in making a purchase by pressing the BUY button. Moreover, the potential revenue opportunity is lost whether the viewer did deliberately press the BUY button in response to an advertisement in a commercial or whether it was pressed accidentally (such as by sitting on the remote control, intending to press a different button, exploring the buttons of the remote control, kids playing with the remote control, etc.). Either way, the signal from the remote control is ignored and no commerce opportunity is provided to the viewer.
This is an unfortunate situation given that some studies have shown that viewers are generally annoyed by or unresponsive to commercials, banner advertisements, advertisement pop-up windows, etc. Advertisers and other parties thus have to make the most out of fleeting opportunities when they have (or can potentially obtain) viewers' attention and interests in purchasing an advertised product. The ultimate success of advertising is dramatically reduced when, as described above, no response is provided to the viewer when the viewer presses the BUY button on the remote control.